What's the strangest house rule you've ever heard of?

[NewJeffCT]

Re: Worst House rule = the DM himself.

It's also not that great when he DM is constantly criticizing every character in methods that only amuse himself. I.E. The elf is always a homosexual, etc. Stuff like that.

[/B]

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

 

[mmu1]

Re: Worst House rule = the DM himself.

It's also not that great when he DM is constantly criticizing every character in methods that only amuse himself. I.E. The elf is always a homosexual, etc. Stuff like that.

Player: "I stab him from behind."
DM: "I wanna stab your sister from behind!"

Sounds like a DM I used to have... Although he'd never play in NJ, after crude sexual jokes, that was his second most popular source of "jokes".

 

[bwgwl]

Now all you need is Matlock, Archimedes, The Count of Monte Cristo, and a Bard named Kevin Smith.

sounds like my old Riverworld campaign.

 

[bwgwl]

DM starts game at 1st level. Players play game for 8 months. PCs are no between 18-25th level. DM invited new players. DM says: "You start at 1st level".

i once had the opportunity to join an ongoing campaign when i was at the time between groups.

the DM told me to make up a 1st level character.

then i found out the rest of the party was like 6th or 7th level.

i said, "No thanks."

 

[Kahuna Burger]

i once had the opportunity to join an ongoing campaign when i was at the time between groups.

the DM told me to make up a 1st level character.

then i found out the rest of the party was like 6th or 7th level.

i said, "No thanks."

In one campaign I ran, I was CONSIDERING having new characters start at first level, with an ecl adjusted race to make them roughly equal with the party. With Savage Species, the idea has even more possibilities, but in the end I only offered it as an option to new players who wanted the "from first level" feel that's missing in the groups I was drawing from...

Kahuna Burger

 

[Voadam]

In second edition I went all out on the initiative options.

You declared your action at the beginning of the round and rolled a d10 wanting low. Add in weapon speeds or casting time, minus dex modifier and magical weapon bonuses. Lowest goes first, ties can happen.

If you had multiple attacks it came in at different times. If you had two attacks it would be a sequence before normal init and after normal init. If you used an offhand weapon however, that extra attack came at normal initiative. If multiple people had multiple attacks the early and late init sequences were determined by their init roll for the round.

If you were damaged as you were casting a spell (in the segment of the casting time) you lost the spell. If you were damaged before you began casting the spell you could decide to drop your action for the round and not lose the spell but not do anything else for the round.

Things go a little quicker now in 3e.

 

[Voadam]

He also has an malfunctioning artifact that sucks PCs into it at random (basically, characters whose players are not attending the game session). The PCs can't get rid of it, because it can be used to free a very powerful mage who was trapped in it aeons ago, and it is possible to set him free by a rather simple incantation.

I played in one where there was a similar mechanic. As we adventured along, there would occasionally be black holes that would open beneath a PCs feet and he would disappear for a random period of time no save (when the Player couldn't make the game) and then it would drop him nearby to the party at a different point.

My wizard ran with the idea and came up with all sorts of theories about how it affected us because it was caused by the corruption of the elemental magic pentacles by an evil cabal we were opposing and our cleansing of the elemental pentacles meant we were space time rip magnets. This explained why it would only affect us and why it brought us back to the group instead of a random area.

 

[MarauderX]

Everyone remember weapon speed? Well we played for several years in a game where initiative was calculated by brief algebraic equation to generate a number between 1 and 10

[(10+ws)/2] - dex bonus, with multiple attack happening half way toward te end orf the round.

So my halflng rolls a 5 with his short sword and a dex bonus of 2... he goes on 2 (5+3)/2)-2, and again on 6 if he ha another attack, and again on 8 if he has a third.

Movement was done 12' per initiative number(2.5 squares on the battle map), and if your spellcaster declared multiple spellcasting he could roll a d4 + the casting time and just cast again then, or d6 + ct for a new spell.

Another quirky rule: if you rolled a '0', which was very possible, you could roll again, andother '0', and you could roll again wihtthe lowest possible outcome being a 1. At that point you had two fee attacks or maybe even movements on zero... except for missile fire, which could only get one.

I had a halfling with 19 dex for the entire game and he routinely got 4 or 5 attacks off in a round with daggers...

Also, we died. A lot.
The game was wonderful, but I prefer the old d20 + your modifier personally...

Actually, this sounds a lot like Shadowrun only applied to D&D. We had a DM that used to run shadowrun a lot try to apply it to a fantasy adventure once, and initiatives worked in a similiar manner so that you could get multiple actions in a round due to your high reflexes. We would either mop up our opponents without a scratch on us, or vice versa as the BBEG would tear us apart within 2 rounds because of the many attacks they had before we could even move once.

 

[Storminator]

If everyone is on the same wavelength, "chess D&D" can be fun, although ime such games usually were more a group effort, or even a one-man show.

Nothing worse though than a "chessplayer" holding up the game looking for the perfect "move" when the rest of the group and the DM just want some fast-paced swashbuckling action full of slapstick and panache.

I'm firmly of the opinion that it's always the odd man out that's wrong. So if there's one chess player in a swashbuckling group, he's wrong. Likewise the one loose cannon in a game full of chess players is also wrong.

PS

 

[Storminator]

According to the Sage at GenCon a few years back, pinpointing spells like fireball with precision accuracy was certainly within the rules, but the DM could do the same thing.

If you don't like that, Weird Wars d20 (I think that's the name) has an interesting mechanic for grenades.

Basically, you roll to hit, and then if you miss, you roll a 1d12. The d12 in this case acts like clock directions to determine where the grenade went. If you roll a 6, it came up short, if you rolled a 12, it went long. Sometimes, you might miss, and end up getting it where you wanted anyway.

You could do the same basic thing with fireballs. Ranged touch attack, then d12 if you miss. There was some mechanic to determine how many feet off you were. Like 1d4*5 or 2d4*5 feet to determine how far off. Not too terribly difficult.

You should have some numbers that mean you hit the square you aimed at. I've used d10s, with 1-8 meaning nearby squares, with 9 & 10 meaning a direct hit.

PS